Reg Hardware Mobile Week
Nokia has launched an e-book reader app for its Lumia smartphones.
It also plans to take on the likes of Flipboard and Instapaper by pulling down web content and social network updates and presenting them magazine-style on its handsets' screens.
Nokia Reading
Nokia Reading - which, for British …

COMMENTS

Seems pretty pointless

"if you've used Amazon's Kindle app for iDevices and Android kit, you'll have a very good idea what Nokia Reading will deliver."

You mean it's just the same as Kindle on WinMo :P So why would Nokia go to all the effort of making it's own book app, when Kindle is there, and is well, bloody brilliant as it is?! It's kind of blowing money on making an alternative wheel, but there's is oval.

Re: Seems pretty pointless

It's to make their phones more "sticky". Basically they hope by getting people to buy content from a platform which is tied to Nokia / Windows devices that come the day you upgrade you will be far less inclined to buy another platform because you will lose your content.

Same thing is happening on Apple and even Google. All are trying to tie you into their clouds, their content, their services. Then they have you buy the short and curlies. It's completely anti-competitive of course.

PR scraps

Hard to get excited with what looks like more than a dozen ebook readers already shipping for WP7. The Amazon fans are still going to get the Kindle app, the clinically insane will grab Kobo if it ever appears (for the excitement of constant, sanity sapping, selling notifications). The smart folk are going to pick an app with no hardware lockin.

And if this does successfully lockin Nokia buyers that's just another reason for HTC & Samsung to quit WP7.

So...

...this was what Nokia was working on when Google and Apple were creating effective and usable phone operating systems! With all the time and money they had I was expecting a cure for cancer or a perpetual motion machine, but I suppose an e-book reader is perfectly okay.